The Santa Maria school in Jericho, hope and future for 585 children, is in danger of closing forever.
Founded by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Egypt in 1932, this school has seen ninety-three years of history pass around it. Over the years, governments have changed, wars, hopes, blood have followed one another; yet the Santa Maria school has continued to open its doors with tenacity every day to children of all religious beliefs, from 1932 to today.
Today, however, it risks closing.
- 100 students can no longer pay the annual school fee: a fee costs only the equivalent of 810 euros a year, yet 100 families can no longer collect it.
- The teachers have accepted a salary reduction to try to buffer the situation, but it is not enough.
- The costs, without the 100 fees, become unsustainable: the bills accumulate, and it is also difficult to pay all the salaries.
The Santa Maria school: one hundred years of history
From 1932 to the present day, the Santa Maria school has seen countless events and changes flow around it: retrace its history and, through it, the history of Jericho and the West Bank!
